


A Collection That Varies

by littlesolo



Series: Black Hill Prompts Collection [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-17 21:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 40
Words: 19,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2324612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesolo/pseuds/littlesolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I've decided that for my sanity and for any one that would like to read them all in one place, *cough cough god-are-you-dimiss cough* I'll archive all the Black Hill prompts I answer here.  I mean to answer and upload them all but this will also help me keep track of the ones I've done.  Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Can you do a black hill fic which a shield agent is trying to pursue Maria and it's starting to get out of hand so Natasha makes an intervention.

Natasha had noticed Talbot but she hadn’t given him much thought. She knew Maria lover her.  

She dropped by Maria’s office later and found Maria with one of those candy necklaces that she loves. Maria looks up to see Nat’s quirked eyebrow.  

”Talbot gave them to me. He spent time with his niece over the weekend and remembered I liked them” answered Maria with a shrug. Natasha knew that Maria didn’t like them. They were her favorites, toped only by the candy lego bricks that Nat might have bought her a quarter pound of.  

Talbot continued to try and cozy up to Maria. He was smart about it too. Not exactly asking her on dates but showing up where Maria was before Natasha got there and somehow Natasha wound up being the third wheel. Maria always went ho,e with Natasha though. Being new to committed relationships, Natasha didn’t want to make a big deal over it. When Talbot closed the doors on her, leaving him alone in the elevator with Maria for the fifth time though, that was it.  

She grabbed him by his stupid paisley tie and shoved him against the steel wall of the corridor.  

"Maria is  ** _not_  **available.”  

"That should be her call, shouldn’t it? How’s that for a reality check Romanov? You can kill anyone, but your girl can still get taken by someone like me" replied Talbot with his smarmy grin. It took everything in her not to punch him.  

"If you really had balls, then you’d actually ask her out on a date instead of just showing up."  

Later that afternoon, Phil texted Natasha that Talbot had come out of Maria’s office with blood gushing from his nose. Did she know anything about that?  

Nope.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anytime Joan gets awoken in the middle of the night means trouble. This time, it's Jamie who comes in with two wounded women and Sherlock is at one of his stupid bee conventions. Her doctor instincts kick in and she inspects their wounds. GSW. Gunshot wound. Multiple. Luckily the redheaded woman has far fewer injuries so she can concentrate on the brunette, who's fading fast. "We need to go to a hospital." The redheaded woman shakes her head. "Not an option." Joan sighs, what's Jamie gotten into

When it comes to medical care, Jamie is more cautious than Natasha. Natasha is in shock. Jamie has seen to Natasha’s wounds which weren’t as severe. Still, her front is cold where the blood dried. Maria’s blood.  

Jamie must have moved her to a nearby chair at some point but she doesn’t remember moving.  

"She found out HYDRA was involved somehow and came to warn me. To get me out" explains Natasha, some what detached. "When the gunfire started, she pushed me out of the way."  

"Well, of course she did. She loves you" soothes Jamie. It’s moments like this when the child in her friend comes out. Despite all the horrible things they’ve done, all their skills, all the aliases they’ve used and still have available, death makes them tremble in fear. They didn’t used to be this way. Not even their own death frightened them, but after meeting Maria, Natasha left for missions knowing she now had someone to come home to. Jamie wraps her in a warm blanket. The adrenaline combined with a panic attack from the thought of losing Maria has her shaking so hard she can hardly remain seated on the chair. Jamie hugs her tightly from behind, doing her best to support her friend as tears flow down her cheeks while Joan works on her lover.  

The amount of bloodied gauze around Joan and Maria is unsettling. Finally, at almost four in the morning Joan pronounces Maria as stable. It’s two in the afternoon the next day when Maria opens her eyes.  

Joan had watched Natasha the whole time, how she brushed Maria’s hair out of her eyes, how she begged her to stay with her, how she held her hand. She’d allowed it to go on as long as she could before demanding that Natasha get some rest too. Joan and Jamie moved a couch over next to the bed where Maria was and Natasha all but collapsed to sleep on it.  

When Maria opens her eyes the first thing she sees is Natasha sleeping peacefully next to her, alive and safe. She sighs in relief.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm sorry, can you pretend to be my girlfriend for 5 minutes?"

It’s a black tie function. Fury sent her since she once was Pepper’s assistant, that cover would work again tonight while she acted as her bodyguard against a possible threat. Tony had let SHIELD know that Pepper, had recently been the target of some very specific threats. And so here we were. Clint and Coulson were also mingling in the crowd as well. Phil just let her know they’d captured the individual so she figured she’d at least have a few drinks from Tony’s open bar. It was there that she ran into Maria Hill.  

Oh Dear _Thor_.  It was Brad.  She hadn’t seen him since Monte Carlo and had really hoped to keep it that way.  

"Maria, can you pretend to be my date for about five minutes?" asked Natasha around her glass. Maria didn’t raise an eyebrow or balk she simply looped her arm through Nat’s and walked them towards the garden area. It was a few minutes later when Brad found them in the garden sitting on a bench chatting that she decided that she’d have to make her point clear. She placed one hand along Maria’s jaw, under her ear and drew her into a deep kiss. The warmth and softness that she found had her eyes fluttering shut. Maria’s tongue welcomed hers and peeked out to caress her upper lip as her senses almost overloaded. She pulled back and looked in Maria’s blue eyes and saw nothing but warmth. No demands for this to go any further, or any explanation as to why it had been necessary in the first place.  

"Um, want to go somewhere… less formal for a drink?" asked Natasha.  

That’s how they wound up at Maria’s both in old well worn clothing that now served as sleepwear. The drinks were forgotten and they didn’t progress any further than kissing, but Natasha marveled at just being held and moving at a pace that she was comfortable with. A relationship that had no time table or endgame was new to her but Maria seemed happy not just to wait, but to be there as she discovered it all.

This night had certainly taken an interesting turn.  


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha meets one of Maria's old ex-es back before she was in SHIELD. He doesn't realize Nat & Maria are together. (Nat gets awfully jealous/possessive, guy didn't even know what hit him - literally or figuratively)

Natasha was at a bar called the Firecracker Lounge having a drink while she waited for Maria to get off work. It was an Irish bar recommended to her by Sharon since her younger brother Kevin used to work at it a couple of years ago. They had good booze, a generally fun crowd that left her alone when she wanted to be, and a pretty good fight when things got out of hand.  

Like things might get tonight.  

Rhys was a regular and one of those guys that acted like he knew everything. A total tool who came to a local Irish bar doing his best to look like he just came from wall street but didn’t even bother to tip.  

The bar was quiet tonight so the tv was on. This wasn’t normally the crowd that would be into current events, but the fall of SHIELD interested everyone. Maria was currently answering questions before a senate committee and Natasha watched as Maria did her best to keep from rolling her eyes.  

"I used to date her you know" says Rhys.

Natasha knows. When Natasha had expressed that she was somewhat embarrassed about her sexual history, mainly that it was mostly with targets and never with someone she actually had feelings for before Maria, Maria had assured her that her whole relationship with Rhys was more embarrassing. Maria couldn’t even remember why she’d found him attractive.  Natasha suspected that he started coming to this bar to try his chances with Sharon or her.  

"Hey Sean! You know I used to bang that chick, right?" said Rhys loudly. Sean cuts his eyes over to Natasha and visibly gulps. He and his brothers knew they were a couple having been told by Kevin and having seen one guy learn the hard way. _That_ had been messy.  

"Yeah? Looks like she wised up and dumped your ass. I mean she’s on the tv and your ass is here" said Jimmy as he brought up another case of beer.  

"In front of the Senate because I totally fucked up and couldn’t handle a bunch of super heroes and freaks? I said that she was a good lay not that I wanted to marry her." Sean noticed the glass beginning to splinter on Nat’s beer bottle and quickly switched it to a thick mug with a muttered "On the house."  

"Maybe I should give her a call. Get things going again" says Rhys as he picks up his bottle to take a long pull.  

That’s as far as he got.  

Natasha brought down her mug on Rhys’ head. Jimmy and Sean winced and Joey who had been sitting at a table in the back went to get a mop. Natasha helped Sean lift the guy into a booth where he’d wake up later and the guys would tell him he couldn’t handle his drinking. Which would prompt a drinking contest that would make that statement true. Over all, he’d forget Natasha was ever there.  

On the plus side, when she got home Natasha would tell Maria that as of now she’d be dealing with a little less crap from now on.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal note- saw an interaction like this go down once and took the dialogue straight from it. I nearly choked on a handful of pub mix when he got hit because the guy went on for a least 15 minutes before someone hit him. 
> 
> Bonus points if you know the series the bar and brothers are from!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You mentioned Natasha being ashamed when talking about her old sexual partners and Maria reassuring her that it was okay. I was wondering if you could write a fic based on that with insecure!Natasha and protective!Maria?

Natasha’s relationship with Maria was progressing. Slowly. Maria was different than most people. Natasha mentally rolled her eyes, that sounded like it came right out of a Nicholas Sparks novel and she detested those and the movies they were turned into.  

But she was different. Maria was happy when they were sitting in the same room together sharing a comfortable silence, or when they were curled next to each other in Maria’s apartment watching a movie.  

The intimate side of things was what was moving slowly and for once it was Natasha’s doing. Maria never pushed her to go further than she was comfortable with, but it had been a month and a half and they hadn’t moved past cuddling and kissing.  

"Hey, you’re frowning to yourself again. What’s up?" asks Maria as she settles on the couch next to Natasha. Natasha notes that she’s wearing her old Stark Industries shirt but she’s wearing Maria’s old Georgetown shirt and the sleeves are rolled up because they’re too long.  

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to do" says Natasha quietly. Maria settles in, sitting so she can look directly at her.  

"Do about what?"

"Us." Maria does her best to keep her features neutral. This might not be going where she thinks it is so it’s best to just keep calm.  

"Well, what do you want in terms of us?"  

"You" Natasha feels like a four year old giving one word answers, but it’s all she can do to force the words out. The mixture of insecurity, frustration, and confusion has been eating away at her for days.  

"You have me, Natasha, I’m not going anywhere" replies Maria. While hearing her say that brings her comfort, it also makes her want to pull her hair out because that’s not what she means.  

"I don’t know how this goes without a time table. Without an endgame. I trust you and care about you and I wouldn’t use you for personal gain or information or SHIELD’s secrets. So, I don’t….I don’t know how this goes." Maria bursting into laughter was not what she had expected but it had her up from the couch and going for the door in a second. Maria’s arms caught her around the waist and pulled Natasha to her, sending them sprawling back onto the couch.  

"Natasha, I don’t know how this works either. My previous relationships have all been less than stellar and the only relationship I had where I didn’t get used in some way, the guy was a total tool. Which is probably what I get for resorting back to guys while being drunk. Anyway, I kind of gave up on finding love or even someone to care about and settled for someone to just meet a need, but you were never that. Not even from the beginning."  

Honesty. It's very refreshing. Natasha could always count on Maria to be honest with her, even at times when it went against protocol. The times she couldn’t she always had ways of letting Natasha know whether it was through phrasing or intonation. It let her know that Maria trusted her and to some degree put her first, even when it came to SHIELD matters. Natasha settled against Maria, relaxed again and played with the other woman’s fingers while she tried to find her words.  

"I stopped counting a long time ago how many targets I’ve slept with. Honestly, the number is not as larger as most believe. Most missions happen with just the promise of a sexual encounter. I usually drug or knock them out, pour some more alcohol down their throats, take off their pants, and call it a night. If they have another girl waiting I take their wallets and pay them and give them a generous tip. Anyone who was about have sex with a beached whale should get a tip for even agreeing. But what arms dealer is going to say ‘a 125 pound girl got the better of me’? But sometimes it was unavoidable. I still didn’t count."  

Maria was quiet and it was making her nervous. She turned her head to the side and found tears going Maria’s cheeks.  

"Natasha, you had so much taken from you and I don’t want to be someone who takes something that you aren’t ready or willing to give."  

"That’s just it! I do want to go further with you. I know numerous ways to give you pleasure. I just… I want it to be more than just going through the motions. You’re not some random person that I just go through rote motions with!"  

"Natasha, I know that. I feel that when you let me hold you. Hell, I know that because you’re wearing my shirt with sleeves that are three inches too long for you. I also know because your all worked up about this. We’ll go further when the time is right for you. I’m happy just to be in a relationship with you. I’d almost convinced myself I just wasn’t made for relationships-" At this Natasha turns in Maria’s lap.  

"What do you mean? Anyone would be lucky to have you!" Maria let out a mixture of a hum and a laugh.  

"And you know this because of the long line of people waiting to ask me out? Is there a sign up sheet I don’t know about? My reputation at SHIELD for being an ice queen bitch isn’t from a latent ice ability. We’ll figure things out as we go. For now, I suggest a  marathon of The Blacklist since they were just added to Netflix and we’ve finished Hemlock Grove." Natasha nodded and curled up even closer to Maria.  


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha gets severely injured but insists she's fine and Maria has to force her to see a medic (bonus if it's Bruce) then Maria gets a small injury and Natasha freaks the fuck out and insists she see a doctor (which Maria is fine with doing but finds it ridiculous that when Natasha is hurt she plays it off like it's no big deal but if Maria gets so much as a paper cut Natasha wants her to get checked over.)

They’d won…kind of.

This recent skirmish took place in…where the hell were they?

Maria was supporting half of Natasha’s weight since the Widow had at least two bullets and stab wound. Natasha insisted that she was fine- her enhanced genetics would help her heal faster. Great. Fine. Whatever. The last thing Maria needed was Natasha to heal up and look fine only to have her keel over from tetanus. At the moment they were looking for Bruce. He was somewhere out here with them. The big green guy was hard to miss in battle.  

"Bruce!"  

"Yeah over here" yelled back the doctor.  

"We need you medical skill over here." The doctor hobbled over, still a bit shaky from transforming. He began to work on Natasha while Maria crossed her arms and took in the damage.  

"What’s that!" exclaimed Natasha, pointing at Maria’s arm.  

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Maybe a bullet grazed me or a I caught it on a tree branch" said Maria dismissively.  

"Her first" ordered Natasha, shoving Banner at Maria.  

"What? Natasha…you have multiple bullet wounds!" argued Maria.  

"So do you!" argued Natasha.  

"A graze like this will leave a bruise at MOST. Besides it’s just a scratch! You have HOLES in you!"  

"Let’s let Banner decide that, hmm?"  

"Ah—" started Bruce.  

"Exactly" finished Natasha for him.  Banner quickly cleaned Maria’s wound and bandaged it, feeling the force of both women’s glares, and then moved back to Natasha.  

"A tree branch. Really Maria? There aren’t any trees here, it’s all rock and dirt!" scoffed Natasha as Bruce worked.  

Maria spun back around to face her. ”Are you forgetting the tree we FELL OUT OF? The thirty foot drop kind of stuck in my mind.”  

Bruce smirked, knowing that they were both probably in intense pain and arguing to distract themselves, but he still found it adorable.  

"Wipe that smirk off your face Banner, that’s an order" snapped Hill.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria is seriously ill and hides it expertly from everyone until Pepper finds her collapsed in her car after hitting the security booth. Cue worried russian and angst and fuff and all the feels

Maria didn’t have time for this.  

Her job was to keep as many unwritten SHIELD secrets from the stupid senators and congressmen as possible. For instance, when Thor: the Norse God of thunder and lightening first came to Earth, after being momentarily stunned by being hit by Jane Foster’s van, her intern Darcy Lewis took him down with a stun gun. That was one of those things that never been typed or committed to paper, just in case something like this should happen.  

It was also why she did not have time for her body to decide that this was the ideal time to revolt against her. Too many nights of staying up late working had resulted in a migraine that was the equivalent of a railroad spike being shoved from the back of her head to right between her eyes and an accompanying nausea and dizziness.  

It didn’t matter though because she, Tony, and Pepper were working as fast as they could to keep things like T.A.H.I.T.I. and the specifics of Banner’s experiment that resulted in the Hulk out of military hands. All they needed was Putin or North Korea with an army of Hulk soldiers, never mind the weapons they already had that scared us shitless.  

* * *

Pepper had noticed that she’d forgotten to give Maria the file she’d still been working on. She left her office at a light run to try and catch her at the garage. The work was taking it’s toll on all of them. Tony didn’t bother with jokes while they were working, Maria seemed to be trying to hide physical pain, but Pepper couldn’t be sure. Maria could also just be stressed out worrying about how long it would be until the government turned it’s focus to her lover, the ex KGB spy. The letters KGB would instantly erase any black in Natasha’s ledger as far as the government was concerned and her actions in New York would mean nothing. When the government tried to steal Tony’s suit and wound up dealing with Hammer and Ivan, it was Natasha that had saved them by giving Brody back control. Also, saving Tony from dying and watching after not only him but her as well. Pepper realized she’d never really thanked Natasha for that. The red head was also the only one to ever outsmart Loki the God of Mischief. But unless they came up with a plan, they’d stash Natasha in a black site somewhere and Pepper was worried what would happen to her and Maria if that should happen. As for herself, Pepper had found that she was losing handfuls of hair. Her doctor said it was due to stress.  

Well, no shit.  

She was pulled from her thoughts at the sudden sound of a blaring car horn and then the sound of a crash. Pepper’s light run turned into a sprint. The security guards were stuck inside their booth and a bit shaken. Maria’s car had hit the concrete barriers and pinned the booth’s doors shut. Maria’s airbags had gone off, but opening the door Maria looked much paler than she had ten minutes ago up stairs. Pepper called up to Tony and had him call for medical assistance and then call Natasha.  

* * *

Natasha had raced to the infirmary the moment she’d gotten back from her no muss, no fuss mission she’d been on with Clint. Well, they’d made a quick stop by her and Maria’s place to pick something up, but Clint had no idea what had been so important.  

Natasha was almost shaking with anger but there was no one to blame for this. When it came to getting something done, Maria was nearly as bad as she was.  

After New York, things changed. There were super heroes. The issue wasn’t only who wanted to use them as super weapons but how many had already been found and were already being experimented on? How many other such operations were just starting up? Were children disappearing from the streets again? So many countries were at war at the moment, who could keep track of all the children? They’d just write them off and add them to the death toll.  

It wouldn’t be just children either once the science got more refined. They seek out people with certain traits, genetic markers, immunities. How many would die in an effort to create a perfect soldier that was a mixture between Captain America and the Hulk? And then there was the question of how much greater would the cost be to all of them? Natasha knew all of this weighed on Maria’s mind and it was exactly why she was Nick’s right hand.  

Nick might not trust many people, but he trusted Maria. Nick did the shady side of things, the parts that not everyone could stomach. He had pointed out to Steve once that he and his men had done some awful things. Steve had said that they had done them to protect their country. Granted a LOT had changed since he’d last been around, but didn’t he realize that this was that same country and that Nick had lost an eye for it and Maria had worked herself to exhaustion and could have been seriously hurt or killed?  

One of those undocumented secrets they were trying to keep hidden is that the Winter Soldier is Steve’s best friend, especially after the news copters broadcasted footage of him and his buddies shooting up that public bus and opening fire on a crowded interstate in 1080p. Captain America would instantly go from America’s favorite hero to a traitor sharing secrets with Putin’s favorite secret weapon. It wouldn’t matter if his friend could be helped or remember who he was, _no one would care_.  

Personally, she stopped considering herself Russian when she joined SHIELD but she senses sometimes that when he states that he did it for “his country” he’s directing that comment at her, and Thor if he’s present. All of them fight for America, but they also fight for each other, and for SHIELD. Something that he dismissed so easily from the beginning since it had changed. Well everything had changed because time didn’t stand still but it had all been started on standards that Peggy Carter had set and that Maria still fought to maintain.  

She had shouted all of this at Steve when he showed up to the infirmary to see if there was anything he could do to help. Steve had argued that what Maria and Tony were doing was wrong. Exposing all of SHIELDs and HYDRAs secrets and still trying to salvage and keep as many hidden as they could? It was secrets and fear that had gotten them to SHIELDs fall.  

She had nearly yelled herself hoarse and tears were streaming down her face when Pepper and Clint dragged her away from Steve. Steve didn’t even feel Sam and Sharon guiding him back towards the chairs. He’d never seen Natasha that way before. Even when she’d been unsure, she’d had her usual steady tone and kept her cool. Just now though… It was as if he was seeing how close she was to shattering. Her words had struck home, but so had the fact that she couldn’t seem to stop shaking and the tears flowing freely, as well as the fact that had it not been for Clint and Pepper she might have snapped his neck. Steve sank into a chair and ran his hands through his hair.

* * *

Pepper walked Natasha down to Maria’s room, allowing Natasha to collect herself.  

"What was it? That had her pushing herself past working hard and on towards stupid" asked Natasha.  

"I don’t-" started Pepper, but Natasha had just stared at her.  

"It was only a matter of time before someone hinted at a connection between the ex-KGB and Putin and the whisked you off to a black site. I think she was trying to come up with a plan that didn’t involve any violence but kept you two together.  

* * *

Natasha entered Maria’s room, the lights kept off and the machine beeps silenced to spare her head any additional pain in addition to her migraine. Natasha wiped at her cheeks again, to be sure any trace of her tears were gone. She reached into her bag and pulled out the ridiculer Uglydoll that looked like a teddy bear that never failed to make Maria smile and feel better. Maria stirred as Natasha set the stuffed creature next to her.  

"Hey… don’t look at me, I’m radiating pain" groaned Maria softly as she clutched the toy to her chest. Natasha moved the chair right next to the bed.  

"I thought we had a deal. If I’m not allowed to work myself to the point where I make myself sick, you’re not either" Natasha reminded her.  

"I’m just trying to keep SHIELD's promises. You joined us because you wanted to stop running, you shouldn’t still have to. Also, I love you and would rather have you with me instead of playing Carmen Sandiego" explained Maria softly, entwining her fingers with the red head’s. Natasha leaned down and kissed her softly, knowing that too much pressure would be painful while Maria still had a migraine.  

"I love you Maria, and I have no plans to go anywhere." Maria hummed with happiness and squeezed Nat’s hand before drifting off. Natasha settled into her chair and watched over Maria and her odd fuzzy stuffed creature while she slept.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do like Steve, I DO!! But due to the whole SHIELD/HYDRA situation he always is the best choice for the man with the unpopular opinion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one has Natasha in it, but it was just a little something that entered my mind.

Tony was messing around with Bruce in the lab and they accidentally created something that turned Bruce into the BIG guy and unable to turn back for two to three hours. They managed to get the Hulk settled in a training room, but the Hulk wasn’t like Bruce.  

He didn’t enjoy reading.  

Sharon Carter grew tired of the Hulk’s banging after fifteen minutes and left to see someone about a favor. She returned from FitzSimmons lab five minutes later with Natasha, carrying a large Chinese finger trap. Together, she and Natasha inserted both of the Hulk’s index fingers inside and peace was restored. No matter what the Hulk did, he couldn’t break free.  

When Bruce finally changed back, the finger trap changed with him and seemed to have….um…shrunk. Bruce spent the next three hours sitting in FitzSimmons with pants on but no shirt while he waited for Leo to figure out how to reverse the process.  

"The gun was only a prototype, you see."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nat gets a case of the hiccups and Maria has to help cure her

Natasha was tired and her patience was running thin and the front of her shirt was wet. Bruce had startled her with a Hulk sized burp while being in human form and given her the hiccups. When they didn’t go away on their own, all the guys took it on themselves to show her their own “full proof plan” to get rid of them. Clint’s had involved drinking water from the far side of the glass - a carnie trick he’d said. Which is how she’s gotten her front wet and water up her nose.  

She slammed the door and tossed her keys on the counter when she got home, forgetting that Maria had gotten home first. Maria had jumped at the sound and nearly fell off the couch.  

"Natasha? What’s wrong?" asked Maria as she pulled herself up.  

"Stu -hic- Stu -hic- STU -hic- STUPID PEOPLE AND -hic- HICCUPS!!!" Natasha finally managed to get out. She threw herself on to the sofa next to Maria. While her hiccups were no longer audible, her body still jumped with each one.  

Maria motioned for Natasha to turn so that her back was facing her. Maria then scooted forward and started to work the tension out of Natasha’s shoulders. She could guess what had happened and wasn’t sure she even wanted to know what Thor’s suggestion had been.   

Slowly, Natasha began to relax into practically a puddle and Maria stretched out again on the sofa with Natasha curling into her front.  

"So, who’s in the infirmary and who’s not?" asked Maria.  

"Clint and Tony are. Bruce apologized so many times I almost felt bad for being mad at him. Steve and Sam tried to help and Thor’s suggestion required a goat."  

Maria was now positive she didn’t want to know.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Person A is trying to get Person B jealous and it gets Person B riled up to the point that she accidentally admits their relationship to their fellow Avengers.

It was Bruce’s birthday so the Avengers as well as some SHIELD agents had all gathered at Stark tower to celebrate, despite the fact that the doctor was more of a loner and wasn’t all that fond of Stark’s loud parties.  

Everyone was mingling and having a pretty good time. Pretty good because although both Maria and Natasha were present, there was something missing. They’d started a relationship only a little while ago and had agreed to move slowly for reasons on both their parts. Things had been going well and they’d been happy, or at least Maria had thought so, but all of a sudden Natasha had started to pull away. If she’d done something wrong accidentally, Maria wanted to fix it, but Natasha didn’t want to seem to even want to give her a chance to discuss it.  

So, when Steve Rogers started to flirt with her in his awkward way that resembled a small puppy, she let him rather than let him down gently. She didn’t lead him on, but he seemed nervous enough as it is and she hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise. If she’d found him remotely attractive, she probably would have found this endearing. Instead it made her want to laugh and wince at the same time.  

* * *

Natasha watched from across the room. Maria was laughing at something Steve said to her. She wouldn’t go as far as to say Maria didn’t like Steve, but unless it was work related, Maria found herself feeling like she was in a 1940’s movie. So what the hell was she laughing at? She must have been watching longer than she’d thought because most of the others had joined them. Seeing Steve put his hand on Maria’s arm though was crossing a line and Natasha was over there in a second.  

"—go out to dinner with me some time?" asked Steve. Maria was stuck fumbling for words, having thought she’d diverted the conversation away from this, and momentarily froze.  

"She’s seeing someone, Steve" interjected Natasha.  

"Huh? Who?" asked Steve, wondering if he’d missed something. He’d kinda hinted at his intentions before but Maria had made excuses.  

“ _Me_ , Steve” growled Natasha, as she put an arm around Maria’s waist. Maria leaned over and kissed her temple and Natasha leaned into her side, not having realized until just now how much she’d missed the feeling.  

"Sooo….SHIELD is safe then, right?" asked Sam, his eyes looking around to the others.  

"What?" asked Clint.  

"Well, I mean even if they weren’t together, but they are, you got that Coulson dude as Director and Maria doing everything else behind the scenes. No one else is going to keep her safe like Natasha. So we’re good, right?" explained Sam.  

Maria couldn’t help but laugh with the others. You couldn’t argue with Sam’s logic. Natasha shared a look with Steve and he nodded at her in a sign of support and congratulations. Honestly, she didn’t know what she’d been expecting but since everything had been falling apart all around her, she didn’t want to give what they had a chance to. It looked like Maria was going to fight to keep that from ever happening and if she was willing to do that for what they had, then so was she.  


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One time Maria's arm gets broken in 3 places. Natasha nearly kills the people responsible, but luckily Steve pulls her out of the room and tells her that Maria needs her right now. She finds Maria in the medbay, woozy from painkillers she insisted she didn't need. Natasha feels like shit, seeing her bruised girlfriend and the urge to kill rises again. Maria spots her and has the biggest smile on her face. Maria, high on painkillers says 'I love you' for the 1st time.

Natasha didn’t really care what the little scientist interns had been “trying to do”, she’s going to kill them.  

She’d been pulled from her sketching (a new hobby) by Sam who told her that Maria was over in the infirmary. Maria had been over to peek in on the young scientist interns and one of their experiments had propelled her into a very solid and sturdy helicarrier support wall. She’d broken her arm in three places. On the plus side, SHIELD was far more equipped than any hospital and always had a good supply of drugs so Maria wasn’t feeling any pain, but Natasha was still going to kill the idiots.  

"I didn’t need the meds you know" says Maria in what she probably thinks is a hushed voice rather than mostly mumbled. "Hey! My cast! I want the Avengers to sign it. All of ‘em. Then we’ll keep it when it gets cut off and can sell it on ebay to some fanboy for Stark’s kind of money!"  

Natasha frowned. The pain killers hadn’t made Maria stupid, but she’d still be uncomfortable with anyone seeing her this way. She was the Assistant Director and that meant something, not because she was a woman, but because they dealt with Gods and aliens and other forces that couldn’t be explained yet. To be knocked on her ass by interns was humiliating in some ways. It only got Natasha worked up again and ready to kill.  

A laugh broke into her violent thoughts. ”You're all frowny faced and thinking too hard. It’s cute. C’mere.” Natasha walked over and sat on the edge of Maria’s bed. Maria grabbed her arm and pulled her close, nuzzling into her side. Natasha scooted closer and squeezed herself in on the bed as well.  

"I love you Natasha. So much" sighed Maria.

Natasha blinked.

Well.

That was unexpected.

Natasha couldn’t help the wide smile that spread across her face as she leaned over and kissed Maria’s head.  

"I love you too Maria."

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hill goes missing on vet day (she has ptsd from her days in the forces and losing her squad) and Natasha needs Sharons and Sams help to find her

Being the Assistant Director of SHIELD meant that in addition to being an excellent tactician, you also had to be able to not only keep up physically in the field, but bring in some moves of your own that no one would see coming. Maria definitely fit that bill, so in theory, Natasha had no reason to worry.

Things are always easy in theory.  

She found Sharon and Sam and they went searching for Maria. No one had seen her come in and Natasha hadn’t seen her since breakfast at their place.  

* * *

It was Vet Day, and that was hard for most SHIELD agents that had been recruited from military service. You see, there were certain things that were looked for in SHIELD recruits and resilience was one of them. The ability to keep getting back up. Maria could do that and have three possible attack plans mostly hashed out in her head before the pain even registered.  

The thing was, not everyone was cut out to be a SHIELD agent. Sometimes the other eighteen year old kids you’d enlisted with were just meant to be eighteen year old kids or just really great soldiers.  

Maria’s childhood consisted mostly of physical abuse from being forced to wrangle dogs for her Uncle’s dog fights, and having everything else crushed out of her. Her confidence, her will, her hope. Her relatives couldn’t crush her mind though and she’d used that at every chance she could to find a way out of their home. She’d found one in the military. She could start again, and become someone. Someone worthy of all the training Peggy Carter had taught her as well as all the lessons.  

The others though. Bowler, who was a genius when it came to electro engineering and strong as an ox, but insisted on always getting that hair cut that made him look like the kid from the Shining. Jules who had been their trauma surgeon in the field, Dokey who no matter what happened -he was fine. That wasn’t an energy drink, it was hot sauce? No worries, Dokey’s fine.  

Everything was fine, until it wasn’t.

All Maria really remembered was a blinding flash and a ringing in her ears that sounded far away for some reason. When she could make out shadows and shapes again moments later, she realized it was a service dog that was dragging her away from the wreckage. Later, as she was recovering, she’d found out not even the dog had made it.

It must have been instinct because she didn’t remember it. She received a medal for bravery having grabbed the case containing the hard drives with the intel they’d recovered and clutching it to her chest.

At the funerals, she’d left her medal on the service dog’s coffin.

 

* * *

Sam found her at the park and called Natasha and Sharon. He waited until the others had arrived to see about how they’d approach her. Natasha ran up to meet him with Sharon right behind her. He didn’t know Natasha very well, but it was clear that she loved Maria very much. She’d found Sharon and him just get there in the garage, and instead of ordering, she’d pleaded with them to help her look, tears falling down her face. Apparently, she’d missed some meeting with Pepper that she’d been prepping for. It was very unlike her.

Except for the fact it was Vet Day.  

Turning back to watch Maria, she was flying a kite. It was something she did sometimes to relax. Other times she did so after missions went….well, bad was putting it mildly. Natasha spotted a large toy store bag at her feet. Natasha walked over, making sure that Maria heard her, and peeked into the bag.  

"I couldn’t choose so I got them all" said Maria quietly. Natasha hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek.  

"Need help flying them? Because Sam probably knows how to make them do some cool flying tricks since he’s spent so much time up there trying not to fall, and I’m sure Sharon can figure out how to get one airborne" said Natasha.  

"I heard that!" yelled Sharon from behind them, making Maria smile. She nodded and the four of them flew kites until lunch.  


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could you do a fic where Natasha fids out Maria is covered in tattoos? Do whatever you want with it , i just want a tattoed Maria xD

* I think SHIELD has something against tattoos since they’d reveal too much but I can try and make this work (Make it hard why don’t you?)*  

* * *

They were all headed back to the Helicarrier on a Quinjet after a battle and Natasha was bandaging up a wide gash on Maria’s leg while Maria was lost in thought.  

"Hey!" said Natasha as she turned Maria’s leg for a better look at the inside of her ankle. "I didn’t know you had a tattoo." Natasha was honestly surprised since she’d explored nearly every inch of her lover.  

Maria had been pulled out of her thoughts when Natasha turned her leg, throwing her off balance and nearly off her chair.  

"Yeah I got it back when I was still in the military. Actually, Fury approached me right as I came out after it was done."  

"It’s not a crow because that’d get you mocked forever, and so would a raven, so what kind of bird is it?" asked Natasha.  

"California Condor. The guys in my unit nicknamed me condor because I could predict the enemy’s movements as if I’d been swirling above just watching. Bowler had sad that I always seemed to have at least one secret weapon up my sleeve too. Then I began to hate it, since the condor’s secret weapons were their tendency to either vomit or shit on any predators that tried to attack it. God, boys and their bathroom jokes. They can go on for days! After their funerals, Nick walked with me back to my car and told me that there was one more interesting fact I should know about the condor. It had only recently been brought back from the brink of extinction. I though about that, and my tattoo, and how I’d finally found a purpose." The part where, at the time, she’d have no where to go but back to the empty house that she’d lived in with her Uncle and Aunt went unspoken. "I joined SHIELD the next morning." Natasha took the seat next to her and and squeezed her hand as Maria let her head rest on Natasha’s shoulder and slept for the rest of the ride.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria first meeting/finding Natasha in tears because the KGB is looking for her and Maria telling her that she'll be there to protect her from it all.

*Since this takes place earlier, Maria is still working her way up and not Assistant Director yet*

* * *

 

It was to be expected, but considering the reputation of the Black Widow and the fact that they knew more than anyone exactly what she was capable of, having trained her themselves, you would think Red Room would reconsider putting a price on her head.  

Being cloaked and at maximum altitude in the Helicarrier, it didn’t really matter what they ordered at the moment, or at least that’s how Jasper Sitwell saw things. Agent Mandel had been assigned to Romanov’s protective detail and Director Fury had ordered her to go get some rest. Something didn’t feel right though so she asked Phil to go get her two meals from the mess hall and she’d owe him a favor. Phil raised an eyebrow at her, knowing his friend well enough to know something was up and it wasn’t good.  

"Your Director told you to go" said a voice quietly from behind her. The first thing Maria noticed was that Natasha’s voice sounded just as Russian as hers did, which was to say not at all.  

"Director Fury says a lot of things" answered Maria, having tried to think of something better to say, but that was the best she had.  

"He’s your leader and commanding officer and you just disobey him?" asked the assassin incredulously.  

"Many SHIELD agents don’t respect him. They think he’s too reckless choosing not to trust anyone with so many secrets. I think he does the parts of the job that are necessary. The parts that most people can’t bring themselves to do and don’t have the stomach for. If his way was the only option, I would follow his lead without question, but with all your training and skills can you tell me that something doesn’t feel off?" asked Maria.  

"Everything is ‘off’. I haven’t had a home in a long time. Red Room took me from mine. Eventually, I didn’t need a home, just a place where I could sleep with a knife at hand rather than a gun. It meant I was reasonably safe from attack, unless one of the other girl assassins decided I was to be her rival in which case the knife and a well placed threat would suffice." Tears had begun to leak down the red head’s face and Maria would bet she didn’t even notice. "I came to SHIELD on the promise that I wouldn’t have to keep running and now… Yes, I sense it too." The look of defeat seemed to add a cover of exhaustion over the woman that weighed down on her like a wet wool blanket.  

"I will keep you safe" promised Maria firmly. Natasha Romanov met her gaze and stared at her for a moment.  

"I believe you will do your best to" allowed Natasha, thinking that one of those agent’s faces seemed familiar but from her time growing up in Red Room...

* * *

That day Maria had kept her safe. And so when SHIELD fell and HYDRA was exposed, and Natasha was fighting her impulse to run, Maria had looped her arms around Natasha’s waist from behind and whispered in her ear “I will keep you safe.” Hearing those words once more, Natasha felt herself start to relax again. Although this time it would be different. This time she vowed to keep Maria safe. Together, they would take on all comers.  


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria has a nightmare or a panic attack and Natasha has to help/comfort her

Thor had left with Loki four hours ago. She had left Clint only once she was sure he’d be okay for the night. He hadn’t been thrilled about bunking with Banner but he had felt better knowing he’d be less likely to hurt anyone.  

She’d been going towards Maria’s quarters when she spotted Maria sitting near one of the windows. The guilt she felt was more than a mere pang, more like a wave. She’d heard about the cave in and the attack on the bridge. She’d tried to put them out of her mind due to Clint’s active roll in them both, and in doing so had forgotten that Maria had been in both.  

Maria turned to her and gave her a tired smile. It was more than Natasha would have given her, had their been reversed. They showered together to make sure they were both free of any wounds that were serious, but also to keep each other from drowning in the shower if they happened to pass out from exhaustion.  

Natasha had to apply new bandages before bed. It had taken longer than expected and when she joined her lover, she was already asleep. Natasha had thought it would be harder to fall asleep with all that had happened, the aliens, the giant…things, the nuke, but she drifted off moments after her head hit the pillow listening to Maria breathe.  

She was startled awake and found Maria shaking in her sleep next to her. She reached out to try and wake her but found her covered in sweat.  

"Maria? Maria, sweetheart, you need to wake up." Natasha jostled her shoulder a few more times and repeated herself and finally Maria awoke.  

Maria sat bolt upright and tried to breathe normally despite the fact that she’d just been struggling to breathe as dirt and rock crushed her to death in her dream. Her mind was still stuck there though, with her thinking she’d never see Natasha again. She’d managed to remind herself that Natasha was alive but when she went to get herself a glass of water and saw Natasha there, she lunged into her arms and hugged her close.  

Natasha held her and rocked her, hoping that it was helping. She had never had someone be there for her though when she was younger and was at a bit of a loss as to what she was supposed to do. She turned and scooted against the wall, pulling Maria closer to her and sitting more comfortably.  

"I thought I would die there and never see you again. I heard Phil telling the other agents to leave the equipment and get out. I knew that the whole area must be collapsing, not just the tunnel. The headlights had shown me enough to know I couldn’t get out that way and I wasn’t going to risk walking back and have the ground give out underneath me." Maria’s voice was mumbled from the way she had it pressed against Natasha’s chest, listening to her heart beat. "I couldn’t even leave you a message or a text, I was too far underground. The radios still worked though. I heard Fury and and Coulson speaking as they rode off in their chopper. The agents who stayed or were left behind got me out in the end. In my dream though, the walls come down and I’m buried and can’t breathe. Then I woke up."  

Natasha continues to rub her back, hoping the sound of her breathing and her heart beat are helping to calm her. 

"I don’t- I stopped having nightmares when I was younger. Not only were they 'discouraged' by Red Room, but by the time I was twelve I done so many things that I suppose the horrors no longer terrified me. Probably because I was was the one doing them, not having ten done to me. I still had panic attacks every so often, but after sometime I simply got used to the shaking and sweating and the migraines that sometimes followed. After I started seeing you though, I stopped having them as regularly. I haven’t had one in almost four months. I think it’s because for the first time ever, I have someone I can lean on and that I can say I trust with my life and actually mean it. I trust the others with my life, but when it comes to the rest of me- my past, things I’ve done, things done to me. I don’t need their pity or their sympathy, it’s of no use to me. While I don’t want any extra attention, it still doesn’t merit the jokes that Tony and Clint tend to fall back on. But you…When you learned my childhood had been stolen from me, you spent all weekend making me experience every aspect of childhood that I might find enjoyable. Unlike the boys, who might have thought I’d enjoy laser tag and not associate the experience with snipers, you introduced me to Rockem Sockem Robots, much to all the boy’s sadness since I’ve beaten them all at it. Anyway, I just want you to know I may not be very good at it, but I’m here for you just like you’ve always been for me." Maria hummed and pulled her tighter.  

"I love you Natasha. And you’re doing a great job" murmured Maria. Natasha smiled and settled them so they were lying down again.  

"I love you too, Sweetheart. Now get some sleep" she whispered as she placed a kiss on Maria’s forehead.

They both drifted into a sleep free of nightmares.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nat isn't as cliched as writing out her name with Maria's, no it's never written. Just in her head. She's gone through all the permutations. Natasha Romanoff-Hill. Natasha Hill-Romanoff. Natasha Hill. Or will she keep her name? Don't get her started with Maria Romanoff-Hill.

Maria has thought about this aspect too, except that no matter how you shuffle the names around, to her mind it only serves to make Natasha a bigger target than she already is now that SHIELD has fallen. If she took Natasha’s name it wouldn’t cause any harm. Natasha may not see it that way though… Two of the world’s seemingly most powerful women, and they can’t decide what their name should be for fear of getting the other one killed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sharon finds out there's a bet with all the SHIELD agents. Who's going to propose, Maria or Natasha? Sharon wonders if it would be unethical for her to bet, and also skew the results. Afterall, Maria's been looking for a custom ring being made, and Natasha's asked her what type of cut Maria would like best.

Of course, their questions were about more than just about the rings anyway. Given their jobs, rings weren’t always practical, especially with Natasha’s skill at going under cover. Both wanted something that was simple, yet still had meaning. Unique in it’s own way, but could be but on a necklace or a leather cord and tied around one’s ankle to keep it on them.  

Natasha had worn a cobalt blue cord around her ankle that reminded her of Maria’s eyes.  

She had bought three yards worth in order to replace it when it got worn out. The first strand broke when the grenade was tossed on to the bridge during Loki’s rescue from the Helicarrier and Maria was flung over the rail and struck her head hard on the edge of a step.  

Maria had a pen that Natasha had stolen and given to her from one of the idiot senators during the hearings. She kept the silver Cross pen as a reminder that in her own way, Natasha was her champion.  

The first time it leaked it ruined her shirt, staining the area over her heart black. Natasha had narrowly escaped having her throat cut.  

Sharon was the only one who knew of the multiple incidents that occurred with each of their tokens, neither telling the other of their importance much less the odd coincidences, not wanting to appear superstitious or clingy.  

So Sharon worried what would happen should one of the rings get lost, or taken during a mission. Would there be a double meaning? Should they even bother with the rings? Or was the safest place for the bands in a locked box hidden away, where at least the two owners knew they were safe and they were together.  


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Back the fuck off."

"We’ll take a break for now and then resume and begin with our questions regarding your command history, specifically the facility found in Latvia, as well as your judgement concerning agents." The various military officers as well as political officials filed out of the court room, as did Maria from her table.  

Pepper and Sharon found her in the bathroom splashing water on her face. She knew exactly what they were referring to. The facility in Latvia had been one of HYDRAs where they had been performing experiments on children no one would miss. SHIELD had gone in as a rescue- the recovery of any intel a secondary mission when it came to rescuing the children. Rather than allow SHIELD the chance to analyze their work, HYDRA set charges, blowing up the building from the inside out. The agents themselves barely made it out. Maria managed to escape carrying a child on her back. The moment the dust cloud had cleared enough to see, he was shot off her back. Clint got the shooter with an arrow.  

As for her judgement concerning agents, that was undoubtably going to be about Natasha and why she would have approved that she was fit for duty. Both events would tax her emotionally and were essentially a one two punch on top of this mornings testimony.  

Sharon slipped out of the bathroom while Pepper rubbed Maria’s back as she tried to steady her breathing through a panic attack. Sharon was there because Natasha was no longer allowed to be, given her inclination for violence, especially when people were treating Maria this way. Sharon had her own way of deal with things though.  

She stood next to one of the Generals refilling his coffee at the cart in the hall.  

"Back the fuck off."  

"I…I beg your pardon, Miss?" he stammered.  

"I said back the fuck off. And it’s Miss Carter, so you’re aware. As in the niece of Peggy Carter. Maria was all but adopted by my family and I won’t have you go after someone I consider to be my sister like this."  

"We are entitled to our questions, Miss Carter" he replied stiffly.  

"And we are entitled to the op-ed pages in the newspapers. Well, those are at least the means I’ll take. Who knows what Tony will do. But I’ll fill those pages with your history. Ten years as a drunk, and seven of them you were actively serving and giving orders? I can’t imagine that will go over with the public well, or the people who were trusting your judgement on this panel" stated Sharon calmly as she measured out her tea.  

"Your superiors will-!" he started, trying to keep his voice down despite his growing rage.  

"Superiors? What superiors? As all of you continually point out in your little group, SHIELD is gone. We are now accountable to no one. It is in your best interest to back the fuck off because you will not be the only one featured in the papers. You’ll only be Monday’s morning edition and your drunken history will only be the start of the piece. Maria Hill is a protector who has saved the world from aliens and unknowns and super powers stronger than Russia or North Korea without the world knowing and without any recognition for her efforts. If you destroy her as a person, Fury’s second in command, who will lead when the next crisis hits?" The General seemed to be taking her words with the force they deserved, given the pale shade he’d suddenly taken.  

Sharon snagged a pastry before heading back towards the doors inside. That’s where she spotted Pepper.  

"That was certainly…effective" commented Pepper after a moment.  

"Damn straight" muttered Sharon. Pepper had been on the phone with Natasha and had come across Sharon and the General. She and Natasha had listened in on the ‘discussion’, both thinking it was probably a strategy Sharon and Maria had come up with together when they were younger.  

When the questioning resumed, the line of inquiry had suddenly changed.

Good call, sir.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU. Where Nat & Maria haven't met yet. Nat tries to impress the pretty brunette at an amusement park by winning the shooting game (scoring enough to make that cocky boy next to Maria shrivel up). Maria, takes it as a challenge and demolishes Nat's score. Nat raises an eyebrow, and shoves her stuffed animal into Clint's chest. It's so on.

Garret mumbled something and left as Maria smirked at the lovely red haired stranger. She turned back, startled and then faced her challenger again and rolled her eyes. ”Didn’t even know he was there.”  

Another bonus!  Natasha had assumed the two were a couple but obviously not.  An attractive stranger who was besting her at one of her favorite games… It looked like coming with Clint to meet his date wasn’t such a bad idea after all.  She shoved the stuffed bear Clint had won earlier and was intending to give Phil into Clint’s chest.  

"Go find your boyfriend and have fun on your date, Clint. I wasn’t going to be a chaperone" said Natasha, delighting in the fact that the tips of Clint’s ears turned red.  

Readjusting her position, she quickly went through the mental checklist in her head of ways Clint had taught her to beat the rigged games. None of the tricks seemed to help her though as her opponent bested her yet again. Natasha could help it. Her focus was off, having been distracted by the blue eyes of the woman next to her.  

"I’m having an off day. My focus is gone" explained Natasha, setting her gun down. Maria did the same, much to the relief of the game vendor. Both accepted the huge neon teddy bears they’d won and then walked towards the picnic tables.  

"Is it on my face? Because I have a feeling you would have hit more targets if you’d been looking at them instead of me" said Maria with a grin. They both ordered sodas and Natasha paid for them before they sat down, doing her best to ignore the fact that her face probably matched her hair at the moment.  

"I’m Natasha."  

"Maria."


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria's doing a routine lie detector test (esp. after the fall of SHIELD), the prompter leaves cause emergency and Natasha slips in. She shoudl've known... Nat proceeds to ask her about embarassing things and also sexy time things.

Maria sighs as she waits for the the prompter to return. Wouldn’t being the Assistant Director of SHIELD establish that she could beat this stupid test?  

"Sorry about that. If you’re ready to resume?" asks the prompter. Maria nods, just wanting to get this over with.  

"Do you keep in contact with any of the Avengers still?" Maria rolled her eyes.  

"Yes" she had managed to keep back the bit about Tony Stark owning the building and happening to be Iron Man.  

"Do you sleep with a ridiculous creature?"  

 _What the hell?_ ”Natasha? What are you-”  

"That’s avoiding the question, Ms. Hill."  

"You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific though" answered Maria with a smirk. Natasha moved back the panel that was supposed to keep the prompter hidden from sight and scowls at her lover.  

"Do you sleep with a ridiculous stuffed fuzzy creature?" she asked in a clipped voice.  

"Yup" answered Maria, not the least bit embarrassed.  

"Do you have a habit of doodling on things that you disagree with or during meetings with people you find to be really shitty?" Asked Natasha, knowing it had been a porcupine. She actually hadn’t needed anyone to tell her, I mean it wasn’t a magic eye.  

"For the love of Thor, it was a— Yes, I occasionally doodle. Sometimes out of anger because a colleague has made an unfair comparison."  

If Natasha remembered correctly, Phil had compared Ward’s scores to hers, so she’d give Maria that one.  

"Are you addicted to caffeine?"  

"No." Natasha jerked her head up and raised an eyebrow.  

"Care to revise your answer?"  

"No. I have found caffeine to be the best thing to help me keep up with all the incidents that used to follow on my old job, but seeing as I won’t be working with certain individuals who can’t make it through a morning without his Lucky Charms or his friend who can’t go a morning without four cups of coffee despite his thirteen mile run and being a super soldier, I’m sure I won’t need to be on call more hours than there are in the day" replied Maria evenly. Clint bought Lucky Charms in bulk and Steve "liked to be awake and ready" as if he wasn’t after his million jumping jacks.  

* * *

Pepper and Tony looked on through the window, unnoticed by the couple.  

"Not a word Tony. No teasing either! They’re adorable and they’re happy" warned Pepper. For once Tony didn’t argue. He had to agree, having met the assassin and had never been able to tell what was real about her, he could to that this happiness and her love for Maria was genuine.  


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Not my department."

An 084 had been brought in from a safe house. This was a concern because according to the phone call from Charles Xavier, it was Kitty Pryde, despite her appearance.  

So what they had was a three and a half year old Kitty Pryde. Looking at the adorable toddler and then the group of adults that acted like his surrogate children on a regular basis, Fury had handed her to Maria and said “Not my department” and gone back into his office, followed by the heavy sound of his door locks. Maria thought it was very much his department since he often fulfilled the role of “Dad” when it came to SHIELD and the Avengers.  

"The child is leaking!" hollered Tony, as he carried the shifting toddler towards the sink.   

"No, you just spilled her juice all over your shirt" explained Bruce as he took her from Tony and searched for a juice box. His search led him to Clint who was perched on a stool sipping from what looked to be the last grape juice box. Bruce let out a sigh as Kitty tried to wrestle free from his hold against his shoulder. Spotting Natasha, she strained as hard as she could to reach for a strand of her red hair.  

Seeing her interest, Natasha took her from the doctor and Kitty settled momentarily, letting Natasha’s soft hair run through her fingers. Maria watched from one of the tables where she’d been working/playing with the little girl while she ate her lunch. That’s when the guys had come in and all the chaos had started. Steve’s shield was somewhere down the hall, Sharon having kicked it there after Tony and Steve tried to turn it into a makeshift ride of sorts. If she hadn’t done it, Maria would have.  

"She’s going to pull it you know" said Clint, gesturing to Nat’s hair. If only to prove him wrong, Kitty leaned over and yanked on his until he gave up her animal crackers. "They’re circus animals and I used to be a carnie, Kitty. We had a connection" said Clint with his best sad face. Natasha glared at him for mooching food from a toddler when the snack machine was around the hall and then there was of course the mess hall, if he was hungry. Kitty handed him one of her cookies and he winked at her.  

For the rest of the day, Kitty shifted between the guys, usually being rescued by Pepper or Maria or Sharon right before things got dangerous. Natasha didn’t care if Kitty happened to be the exact weight Tony needed as a counter balance as he fused in the first part of his newest invention. She’d grabbed the girl and knocked the wind out of him as she left.  

By the end of the day, whatever had made Kitty into a small toddler had worn off much to Maria’s relief. There had been no attack and no gunfire, yet she’d used the fire extinguisher three times today and almost hadn’t caught Kitty before she wandered into FitzSimmons lab while they were doing testing all day.  

Kitty thanked the women the best way she knew how.  

By taking them all out for drinks.  


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nat & Clint are a thing. Least that's what word around SHIELD is. Maria & Phil aren't bothered by it, it's just a bunch of low level (and high level) agents acting like it's still high school. They know the score and who's bed the two spies go back to. But it does bother Nat & Clint, even more so cause it doesn't bother Maria & Phil.

Clint attempted to end the whispers by kissing Phil publicly in the mess hall. Unfortunately, given his reputation and his usual antics, no one took it seriously. Natasha would often grumpily go and sulk in Maria’s office while Maria continued to work at her desk.  

While Clint was bothered by the whole mess mainly because she shared a sibling dynamic with him and the thought of a romantic relationship literally made them a tad nauseous.  

The agents that didn’t think she was romantically involved with Clint thought she was some sort of emotionless robot. A terminator. Of course there was the majority that thought she still didn’t have emotions and was just fucking Clint on the side. Well, despite what they thought, it hurt. She was proud of the process she’d made when it came to her feelings. It wasn’t that she’d never had emotions, it was just that she felt she had to constantly check she was having them for the right reason. For instance, she had to mentally reassure herself that what she felt for Maria was more than just lust. She’d taken the time to build a strong friendship with the woman and if she just wanted sex then she could get that elsewhere, this was special.  

She had forgotten to take into account whether or not Maria might be attracted to her. All her careful mental consideration had been driving Maria mad as she waited for Natasha to make a move. In the end it had been Maria who had pressed her up against her door and kissed her, their first kiss coming after a lovely evening of nothing but calm normalcy.  

When Natasha complained to Maria, the brunette would just smile at her, in a way that didn’t feel demeaning or belittling like it would from anyone else, but cherished. ”Let them believe what they want. We know what we have, and so does Clint and Phil due to all this. In terms of what we normally deal with, I’ll take this kind of problem over another alien crisis.”  

Everyone wound up finding out at the next event they had to attend. The song had started and they both had simply decided to dance. Watching the two move gracefully across the floor together, there was no question that they were in love, as their eyes never looked away from each other. In fact it was as if no one else was there, they were so wrapped up in each other. It was known by anyone who had heard about Natasha’s past that she could dance, but Maria met every step, moving at Natasha’s pace and never faltering.  

Nick Fury looked out at his second in command fondly, pleased that she’d found someone who made her so happy. Maria used to be so dedicated to her work and not much else until about a year and a half ago. He wouldn’t have guessed Romanov, but he could see how they would make each other happy. If were anyone else, he’d issue a memo that would include the word Siberia or Arctic Circle if they were given any trouble, but Hill and Romanov would probably ship anyone that would step on their happiness there themselves. In pieces. Nick noticed that the other Avengers looked on proudly like older siblings would. Well, all except Rogers who looked a bit confused and saddened as Wilson patted his shoulder. Rogers was friends with both women, and while they saw him as more of a naive little brother, he was still a guy.  

The evening ended with the others congratulating both Maria and Natasha and Clint and Phil on their happiness. In retrospect, Natasha could see why Maria hadn’t been worried, but it had also introduced her to this new feeling in her chest and when she looked at Maria she seemed to know. Looking at their friends as they left to make their way to their homes, she was filled with a sense of family. She hugged Maria tighter in silent thanks for explaining.  


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nat's being ridiculous. Maria doesn't like Steve that way, no matter what headlines say about Captain America & the former AD of SHIELD. He just brushed a bug off her hair, he did not lovingly tuck her hair behind her ear! No, Natasha DO NOT slam his shield into his face. Again. It's not his fault. Oh look there's a stupid reporter with a camera!

Maria is a mixture of multiple apologies to Steve, which he waves off, and flattered. Honestly, she’s never been in this position of jealousy before. She’s had people be jealous of her due to her position or her abilities and skill, but never because it appeared she was receiving the romantic advances of someone else! She considered her extremely fortunate that she was at the receiving end of any romantic feelings, much less ones felt by Natasha Romanov!  

Steve Rogers, on the other hand would be like that older brother that looks out for you, if it wasn’t for his whole being from a different era. That made him more like a little brother in many cases, especially when Clint and Tony were concerned. They would introduce Steve to new things and whether out of a prank or simply because it hadn’t occurred to them to warn him otherwise, Steve sometimes would come close to getting injured. So a lot of Maria’s interaction with the man involved pulling him out of harms way and saying “don’t touch that”.  

Still, Natasha saw the swatting of a hornet away from her head as a loving gesture and got jealous. It might have had something to do with the way the paparazzi photo made it seem romantic (the caption saying they were on a date didn’t help) but it was really because Steve had been there when a hornet had stung her arm and it had swelled up into a large welt that had itched like crazy for days!  

The next time she spotted a camera, she was leaving a restaurant with Natasha. She decided to put an end to this. She quickly turned and pressed Natasha up against the side of the building and kissed her deeply. She’s sure the paparazzi got more than enough photos because they may have gotten carried away and forgotten they were in public. She had her fingers deep in Natasha’s hair and Natasha had her fingers brushing at the top of her jeans in a way that she knew made Maria want to get home fast.  

The next morning, their relationship was made public for all to see and there were multiple calls from Tony on both of their phones until Pepper had tackled him and taken his phone and made him leave them in peace. They hadn’t noticed, still being wrapped up in each other from the night before and again twice that morning.  


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Maria get trapped in an elevator. Natasha hates small spaces and has a panic attack.

The elevator lurched to a stop and voice said they’d have to call engineering to get them out, but that they’d have them out as soon as possible. _Fantastic._

Ironically, this was the first real rest Maria had gotten this week. Between Congress asking questions and the military trying to pull one over on her when she wasn’t looking, she was exhausted. She turned and looked at Natasha, only to find her only very recently become girlfriend having a panic attack.  

Maria didn’t say anything. She walked behind Natasha and took a seat on the floor behind her, pulling the red head into her lap. She wrapped her arms around her and just sat there. Slowly, Natasha’s breathing evened out.  

"What, no questions?" asked Natasha, only half joking. Maria rolled her eyes.  

"They’re caused by anxiety or stress, right? It’s not like we don’t have a whole lot of that in our lives" said Maria gently next to her temple. Natasha leaned back and rested her head against Maria’s shoulder.  

"Ever since the Hulk chased me through the ship, I’ve had trouble with small spaces. It hasn’t really been a problem until now."  

 _The lurch certainly couldn’t have helped things_ , thought Maria to herself. They waited until the elevator started to move again to get up, Natasha falling into a light doze in her arms. When they did get up, and even when they left the elevator and opted for the stairs, Maria never let go of her hand.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria finds out the hard way that Natasha does not like guess who - something about having her eyes covered. In retrospect it was never a good idea to begin with, Natasha never was good with surprises but did she really have to accidentally put Maria in the infirmary? Fluffy apologetic Natasha would also be awesome :D

Maria should have known better. Any other time Maria _would_ have known better, but having not slept in three days due to a minor crisis that she handled for Stark Industries that had been the closest thing she’d felt to her old old job, followed by an unexpected call to testify yet again but about something she couldn’t remember what the acronym stood for and had to be prepped for by Pepper, she might had been a tad too giddy to see her girlfriend and done something stupid.  

Which was why her right wrist was broken as well as three fingers on her left hand. On the plus side, her trip to the infirmary got her her first decent ten hour rest that month and on meds and with staff that made sure it was uninterrupted by cell phones or Congress.  

Natasha was never one for surprises that involved sneaking up on her, and covering the eyes of an assassin being a bad idea would practically be a given. Still, Natasha had apologized profusely. Well, once Maria had her attention of course.  

She had woken up to find Natasha at her bed side smiling. Once Maria had cleared her head, she realized Natasha was smiling at something in her hand that she was holding in her lap. Maria leaned over a bit to see Natasha batting at a bobble head much like a cat, and smiling as it wobbled.  

"What’s that?" asked Maria, startling Natasha so bad that she jumped and the toy went flying into the air. Thankfully, it was caught by the red head’s quick reflexes. This, however, gave Maria a clear view of the object.  

 _It was a Maria Hill bobble head._  

Maria gaped at it. After New York, such toys had been made of all of the Avengers, but she was hardly one of them.  

"I’m not an Avenger" argued Maria, only to be met with Natasha’s hard glare.  

"No, you’re more important! If you’re going to be stupid, I’m not going to give you your present."  

"What, you got me a bobble me too?" asked Maria with a raised eyebrow.  

Natasha shook her head. ”To say I’m sorry, I got you this. I took it out of the box for you to make it easier on you” explained her lover as she handed something to Maria.  

Maria’s jaw nearly dropped at the adorable Natasha bobble head and she lunged her hands towards it as much as she could without hurting them. ”Gimme, gimme, gimme! It’s awesome!” squealed Maria. Natasha looked on, pleased that she’d found something Maria clearly loved. Maria had a love of what Natasha considered odd toys. Some people had stuffed animals, Natasha could understand that. Maria had stuffed monsters. Natasha was beginning to see the appeal though because once she’d seen the bobble head version of Maria, she knew she had to have it.  

"You know we’re going to have to keep Tony and Clint from leaving these out in obscene positions just to embarrass Steve, although it might be worth it just to see his face" commented Maria. Natasha leaned over and kissed Maria.

If there were going to be any obscene positions, she and Maria could do them in private, thank you.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SADLY, a Funko Maria Hill bobble head does not exist……………yet.  
> A HANNIBAL WENDINGO ONE DOES THOUGH!!!!!!!!


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria brings Natasha home to meet (pre-Alzheimer's) Aunt Peggy for the first time. Sharon, like the little sister she is, spends the entire time teasing Maria and Natasha about how shy and nervous they're being.

It was unavoidable. Maria had to bring over Natasha to meet Peggy or she was going to send the Commandos to pick her up and bring her over for dinner. It wasn’t an idle threat either, she’d done it to Sharon’s younger brother when he started getting serious about a girl. Maria was bringing Natasha over not only to save herself the embarrassment but also because despite the money she and Clint could make selling tickets, she really didn’t want to have Aunt Peggy’s first meeting of Natasha be at the hospital after a showdown between her and the Commandos.

"So, Sharon’s family kind of adopted me I guess would be the best way to put it. I actually met Aunt Peggy four years before I met Sharon but once we met we became like sisters."

Natasha nodded absently, wishing she had something like that. In a way she had when she met Clint and he became sort of like a big brother. Now she had Maria in her life and couldn’t believe how happy she was. Which was why she was feeling so uncharacteristically nervous. She didn’t want to screw this up.

The front door was opened by Sharon who displayed a grin that made Maria groan. Throughout the evening Sharon teased Maria, but also let Natasha know that her feelings were in no way one sided.

Natasha’s nervousness about meeting Peggy Carter lessened some when it became clear that the woman wasn’t going to interrogate her. She was far more subtle than that. She snuck in questions while Natasha was laughing at Sharon’s antics with Maria. Before she left Peggy set her hand on Natasha’s shoulder and whispered “Just keep doing what you’re doing. You make her happy.” It was the best thing Natasha had ever heard.  


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sharon gets home late only to find Maria and Natasha in her apartment, worried sick because they though something had happened to her (maybe because of red room or hydra activity discovered in the area). Cue overprotective Black Hill and slightly embarrassed Sharon.

Sharon was just getting home at two in the morning. It had been a different kind of day, but still a long one.  

"Where have you been?!" yells Maria, Natasha a few paces behind her, her face not as irate but that doesn’t mean much.  

”I had stuff to take care of! Errands! Have you been waiting in my apartment all night?” asked Sharon, spotting the Chinese containers on her table. It suddenly occurred to her that while Maria was older by a few years, she wasn’t her boss anymore and she wasn’t a minor who needed to report in to her guardian.  

"Why are you here? What’s the big deal?" asked Sharon as calmly as she could, peeling off her boots. Going on the defensive would be the wrong thing to do, especially with Natasha seeing how concerned Maria was.  

"Coulson got his first experience of what it means to be Director. It went bad and he lost an agent. It was an all or nothing mission and you were one of the first people we could think of that he’d reach out to for that sort of thing. So when we got word that a female agent was severely injured during the mission and then later killed…" explained Natasha. Sharon paled slightly as Maria pulled her into a hug. Natasha wasn’t one for revealing much emotion usually, but Sharon could tell that even she was relieved. A chime on Natasha’s phone distracted her for a moment and then a saddened look appeared on her face. "It was Hartley. The agent who died."  

It was was as if it was open season on veteran female SHIELD agents. First Hand and now Hartley. Sharon could see the worry clearly in Natasha’s eyes as she looked back at her and Maria.  

"I don’t understand. Why didn’t you know all this sooner? You used to be the Assistant Director. Surely Phil knows to keep you updated in case Fury contacts you" asked Sharon. Maria sighed and let herself rest against Natasha when she sat on the couch.  

"He knows better than to do that. Congress keeps bringing me in to testify. He can’t let me know anything that might be brought up in court. While I would be able to get around the questions, whoever they call next might not be able to. Also, he’s making sure I maintain deniability in the event that he and his team get caught and someone else has to pick up where he left off" explained Maria with a sigh. With the first death on his watch, Phil had to be taking it hard.  

Phil had accused her of still keeping secrets the last time she’d walked through his doors. That was only part of the job. There were lots of people who didn’t like the way Fury had done things. Didn’t like the way he seemed to give Natasha and Clint so much leash. What they hadn’t understood was that he used them for things like this. When the risk of death was high, he sent in the best. Maria figured he probably thought he was out of the agents he had. But Hartley worked with mercenaries and HYDRA had been experimenting. It was what had had Maria so scared and waiting in Sharon’s apartment. Then there was the fact that they’d invaded a military base on high alert. She didn’t envy Phil right now, but then again he had to know that he could have gotten a hold of Clint or any of the other Avengers by just picking up the phone and giving her a call. Fury had done the dirty work himself or sent the best when he couldn’t go in person. True, HYDRA had been lying in wait, but Fury’s method had gotten results even if it had been shrouded in secret. Could Phil really hold all that against them still since that’s how he had to operate now?  

"If it counts for anything, I was with Kevin at the Firecracker. He opted out of his team’s last mission to retrieve tech from HYDRA for SHIELD and they were all killed. As their field trauma medic, he’s taking it really hard" said Sharon with a sigh. Her brother had also become an agent a year after she had. It seemed to be the family business. Sharon could see why Maria had been so worried. She’d lost her home and lost her friends and had spent the evening thinking she had lost one of the few people she considered family.  

Sharon tucked Natasha and Maria in on the couch, the two of them having fallen asleep. She made a promise to herself that she would check in with both Maria and Natasha each day and at least call and check in on Aunt Peggy. She knew Steve visited her daily when he was in town, but at the moment she was off with Sam. She wouldn’t let HYDRA take anything more from her or Maria without a fight.  


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's their 6 month anniversary. Natasha is pretty sure she's supposed to do something for it. But all her romantic ideas come from missions and the media. She's as bad as Stark (though not as bad cause at least she remembers life threatening allergies), when it comes to being romantic. She'd kill whoever compared her to Stark though. But now, what is she going to do aobut their 6 month anniversary? Should she do something? Would Maria want her to?

Six months was the longest she’d ever been in an honest relationship. And by honest she meant honest with the other person as well as honest with herself. About what type of relationship this was and what Maria meant to her. She already knew for certain that this was more than just sex and that she was in love with Maria. The kind of love that she usually mocked because it was only featured in Hallmark and Lifetime movies.  

Still, she wasn’t the type of girl that celebrated every relationship milestone and from what she knew about Maria, she wasn’t really either. But it was something sort of special for the two of them.  

Since the fall of SHIELD, most of their privacy was gone so that made a night out at a five star restaurant and then a show or just out on the town out of the question. If Clint suggested any sort of large fuzzy stuffed animal, she was going to fracture his skull.  

She could cook them something special herself but that would involve either a run to the store or a delivery. Since she wasn’t officially supposed to be at Maria’s apartment, much less in DC, it would draw to much attention to Maria. At this point though, she knew Maria’s fridge was getting to the stage where it held little more than condiments.  

 

* * *

When Maria got home, there was a nice hot bath waiting for her complete with bath oils and Natasha to work out the knots in her shoulders and then join her in the water.  

Maria knew what this was, and the importance of them sharing a long bath and helping wash each other. Six months. This was more than a bath, it was the final wall between them crumbling. Natasha let Maria wash and see every bit of her. All the scars she’s had since she’d been first recruited as a girl to Red Room to the ones from both of her encounters with the Winter Soldier.  

Maria let her see her scars as well. The ones she thought made her weak, that she shouldn’t have allowed to happen, if only she’d been smarter and seen it coming. The scars that she’d gotten during her time with SHIELD where she’d discovered her purpose. It wasn’t so much that she became a leader that had shocked her. She hadn’t known what to expect but the resentment of her being a woman in a position of Nick Fury’s second was there. What had stunned her for the first few months was how many looked to her for guidance. For instructions on what to do when the fighting began, on where to set up medical, on what to do with innocent bystanders, or how to start negotiations. They all looked to her. Natasha had been one of those. Jasper Sitwell would give her orders and Natasha would turn to Maria with a raised eyebrow and only follow through on his orders at Maria’s nod of approval.  

It was a sign of trust and while they would share a meal of delivery pizza with everything on it and a bottle of sparkling cider as their big meal, the gift was clear. They were now open books to each other and that was something special considering who they were and their own pasts.

 


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on this:
> 
> http://calvinsolo.tumblr.com/post/98301075811/when-natasha-refers-to-the-ridiculous-fuzzy
> 
> \-----  
> Something about how Maria came to find/love the "ridiculous fuzzy creature" and Natasha realizing through some trouble/disaster that the bear is a prized possession/calms Maria(:

The story behind the fuzzy creature wasn’t a very exciting one, to be honest. It had been after an especially bad day and Maria had been traveling. She’d been on her way back to the airport when she had passed the small toy shop. The need to have something to hug was overwhelming and he looked like he’d fit the bill. Reading his tag in her seat on the jet ride back to base, he was a better fit than she had expected.  

When Natasha started dating Maria, she found about her night companion. Had it been anyone else, Natasha would have teased them, but the lines of stress and worry seemed to melt from Maria’s face even when the creature was just tucked by her side.  

During a thunderstorm Natasha witnessed Maria panic at the booming sounds and flashing. Her last mission in Bogota had included a bit of electroshock before Clint and Steve had arrived. The thunderous booms reminded her too much of the fighting that had gone on, the noise echoing down the tunnels with her unsure as to whether it was SHIELD or the enemy. Natasha had cuddled as close to her back as she could and held her as Maria clutched the bear to her chest through out the storm.  

Eventually, Natasha helped her reframe the sounds of the storm so that the thunder reminded her of Thor’s deep laugh and the lightening just him having a bit of fun with his warriors at one of their parties.  

Natasha made sure that each morning after they got up and got ready for work, that the bear always made it to the couch where he would be waiting and the first thing Maria saw when she walked in.

Just in case she needed him and Natasha wasn’t there.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sharon's upset. Maria doesn't know what to do (for once) but Natasha does.

Sharon is angry. Past angry in fact.  

Much like Maria, SHIELD had been her whole life. Except her torment and sadness didn’t end when she got home. Maria went to her empty new apartment courtesy of Tony, and at least had Natasha there for her.  

Sharon went home, but only after she’d visited Aunt Peggy. Now that Steve was gone with Sam, her visits were more important. Her brother Kevin would visit too, but Aunt Peggy was looking for Steve to come through that door. It only made her angrier. Aunt Peggy had been one of the founders of SHIELD and it had fallen due to traitors in their midst that had been there from when it was just an idea on a memo. To make matters worse, the oath they’d taken meant nothing to so many. Nothing more than empty words. So many of the former agents were trying to trade or cash in on the intel they hand and any tech they could get their hands on.  

Maria steered clear of her, knowing she couldn’t offer any words of comfort or any advice on how to cope because she hadn’t found anything that had worked very well for her other than Natasha’s support. Sharon had been keeping an eye on Maria as well as her brother since everything had fallen. Kevin had gone back to being a bartender at Firecracker Lounge, a bar owned by one of their cousins.  

Natasha had dragged her to the gym and a private room. They had sparred until Sharon could hardly stand up. But it had cleared her mind and let her muscles relax from their constant tense position that she hadn’t been aware of. She nodded to Natasha in thanks, still catching her breath, and Natasha nodded back at her before going to take a shower. At least there were some agents still looking out for each other, and Sharon took enormous comfort in that.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria tells Natasha about her past with her parents and Natasha gets upset/angry about it. Sharon finds her on the roof and they bond over a hatred of Maria's parents/uncle/aunt.

Natasha was using her first aid skills on Maria again. Fortunately, this was not due to any gunfire or knives or combat. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Maria tended to get quite aggressive whenever they played street hockey.  

She’d gotten a nice patch of road rash on the side of her knee in the game they’d just played and Natasha was tending to it so that it didn’t bleed every time Maria bent her leg.  

"Some of these scars look pretty vicious. Did you guys use to play blades vs boards or something?" asked Natasha.  

"Mmm. No, most of those are from dog claws or teeth. Sometimes the chains or cages" explained Maria as she looked at the damage her clothes had taken during the game.  

"My Uncle would host dog fights and my Aunt would take the bets. I was in charge of taking care of the dogs and if we didn’t have enough or needed one to use as bait to get the others riled up, I was to go find one. There were always strays around, but I did my best to keep them fed and only bring back ones that actually stood a chance. They still didn’t always make it. More than once I’d get attacked by one of dogs someone brought and that was seen as pre show entertainment."  

Natasha had known that Maria’s Aunt and Uncle had crushed her spirit in many was, but this was an aspect she had not anticipated.  

"I went to live with Sharon after my Uncle stabbed me. Believe it or not, I’d experienced people with gifts before I was recruited by SHIELD. There was a boy named… something Mickens. It turned out he could shape shift into a dog. I found this out while the dogs were taking a rest between matches and he switched back to human form. I helped him escape and sent him to Aunt Peggy’s for help. Hearing that I let one of the best fighting dogs they’d ever had get away, my Uncle stabbed me and left me there to bleed out. Sharon found me though and then from that point on I lived with Sharon. I’m going to go get a shower and a nap okay? We’ll figure out dinner later" said Maria as she hopped off the counter and headed towards their bedroom. Recounting her past on top of the game had taken more out of her than she’d expected.  

Natasha stood there for a moment before scribbling a note and walking the two blocks back to Sharon’s stoop where she was sipping at a some lemonade with her brother.  

"Her Aunt and Uncle are dead, right? Because if they aren’t that can be easily fixed" stated Natasha as she sat down heavily next to the siblings.  

"Yeah. There was a disagreement about winnings and alcohol was involved. Naturally, guns had to be included too" explained Kevin.  

"Maria’s Dad was nothing like her Uncle. He was sweet in his own way. A retired Marine who became a history teacher. Her Mom was an engineer in the Marines and it’s how they met. Aunt Peggy really liked her. They were killed in a car accident. Just out for an after dinner walk and a car hit them taking a blind curve too fast. At least that’s how the story goes. Who knows after what that computer told you and Steve" added Sharon.  

It might have been the fact that the street hockey game was the closest thing she’d had to a family activity in a while or that she had taken the moment to remind herself that she was still part of one, but for whatever reason Maria had simply opened up. Natasha promised herself that she see to it that Maria was never treated in such a way again but also to keep an eye on Sharon and Kevin too. After so much loss, family was very nearly everything and Natasha felt honored to be considered part of theirs.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria took a 2 week mandatory medical leave after a mission that left her with a concussion. Nat took it off too to make sure Maria wouldn't sneak work in. After they both came back, 5 high level agents thanked her for coming back and to never leave them again. Even Fury's eye held gratitude for her coming back to save his ass from 5 stupid agents who couldn't amount to 1 Hill. There were a lot less talks about Hill's ability to be 2nd in command after that.

There were multiple gift baskets on her desk. Maria didn’t know what she’d do with all the assorted teas and things in them but Natasha had gone ahead and helped herself to some of the truffles from one of them. That particular gift basket was from Nick Fury himself.  

She had gotten a concussion but it was due to being hit by the beam of one of their SHIELD gadgets so the recovery time was longer to make sure there weren’t any lasting harmful effects. There had been many who had thought they could do her job, most thinking of her along the same lines as Ward, but the two weeks she’d been gone had proved otherwise.  

Nick Fury was a man of many secrets. It was one of the reasons HYDRA hadn’t been able to take everything all at once. Fury also trusted very few people, but one of those few was Maria. To keep the details to himself and keep others from doing the really unsettling missions, Fury did a lot of field work himself and it kept him constantly on the move. Maria was kept up to date with just enough vague details to provide extraction should he need it, or the best type of back up.  

While most SHIELD attention went to the Avengers and Fury, Maria Hill took care of things from the shadows. Missions had continued in her absence and it was realized how much they relied on her and how much she balanced on her shoulders at any given time.  

A battle that hadn’t been able to be kept concealed had ended at the edge of Syria, some Asgardian weapons recovered, but there was all the aftermath to deal with now. Moving the now homeless families somewhere safe where they wouldn’t be hunted after and killed. Medical teams to treat all the wounded - both SHIELD agents and hostiles, who knew what effect an alien wound could have. There was smoothing over matters with both the political officials that supposedly held power and then settling matters with the leaders of the hostile parties. Then of course there was the shipping of the recovered weapons back to SHIELD without them being intercepted. And this wouldn’t be the only battle going on that day. There would be Quinjets tracking possible threats, Stark keeping tabs on possible tech threats, and other teams like Coulson’s that were finding people with abilities.  

Maria also always made time for the staff and soldiers on her Helicarrier. The scientists that felt homesick and didn’t even have the comfort of leaving the ship to clear their head. Jemma Simmons had had a terrible time at first. She was brilliant, but there was fear that she’d wash out if she couldn’t bring herself to focus and pull herself together.  

Inviting the young scientist to have movie nights with her and Natasha as well as Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis had lifted her spirits. It was the little things Maria went out of her way to do. Somehow she knew by looking at the person and not their records, that the pilot waiting in the hanger bay for a mission hadn’t slept in seventy two hours. She ordered him to quarters for at least the next twelve hours and in a quieter voice, recommended HGTV shows to play in the background to help with the nightmares.  

Fury had done his best to manage while she was away but everything had spun into chaos. The medical teams had been directed to the wrong area, the families had nearly been placed within shelling distance of their enemies, two agents had offended both hostile leaders and officials on multiple levels, and somehow the situation had been leaked to the news but they’d been able to spin it.  

Having Maria back at her post was a relief. While she often questioned his orders and sometimes they bumped heads, there was no one else he trusted when it came to giving their opinion. She didn’t always like the way he went about things or all the secrets that he kept, but she understood that he had his reasons and had witnessed them first hand. She was also the one who would provide him with whatever assistance he needed and come to his aid whenever he needed her. It was more than just loyalty and competence, it was a partnership and want to keep people safe. With Maria as his second, he believed that good winning was still possible.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU. Maria's Time Crisis score has been beaten AGAIN. After an hour she has her name on all top 5 spots MHill. Beat that BlackWidow. The next day, her scores have been replaced, but this time they say. 1. Will 2. You. 3. Date. 4. Me 5. MHill? 6. -BW. Maria ignores it and replaces all those scores. 1. In. 2. Your. 3. Dreams. 4. You 5. Loser. 6.-MHill.

This continues for another two days.  

Natasha switches tactics and leaves 1. I 2. Dare 3. You 4. To.

Maria sees it and rolls her eyes. 1. Dare 2. Really 3. How 4. Old 5. Are 6. We

1\. Whos 2. Been 3. Leaving 4.Messages 5. OnA 6. Game

They see each other occasionally at work, but they save their banter for the video game. Maria finally relents and Natasha takes her on a date to Dave and Busters. They eat and drink and play video games well into the night. It was the most fun Maria had had in ages and even the games with guns were fun when she played with Natasha. Usually the fact that the bosses were impossible seemed to real and shooting off the screen to reload was a luxury that was too good to be true. But when she played with Natasha she got a running commentary and an excellent partner.  "Why do we get points off for shooting civilians if they were dumb enough to run _towards_ the bad guys?"  

When the cab dropped them off near Maria’s, neither wanted to let the night end, but they also wanted this relationship to work and see where it went. They both knew rushing in would be a mistake, but the desire is almost too much to be ignored.  

Neither can wait for their next date two days later.  


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nat is helping Maria sort through her old things after a flood in the storage facility. (She finds something embarrassing, something that makes her want to kill someone, something that makes her feel closer to Maria or anything really.)

Maria was to get started at Stark Industries officially next week. They were giving her this week to clean up her own lose ends and sanitize her old apartment. Which was why Natasha was helping her pack up her stuff to move it to the apartment Stark had provided for her.  

Natasha’s things had been easy to pack since it had been only since she started dating Maria that she saw the value in keeping things as mementos. Still, everything she had fit in three boxes. Maria had a storage space that had been flooded by the recent heavy rains and she wanted to get to her things there before someone else discovered them. Maria’s belongings were largely career related with a handful that were related to her adopted family of Sharon.  

Natasha had offered to help, thinking in more of a load the boxes in the car way, but Maria had asked her to help her go through the belongs and help her get rid of anything that could be held against her or SHIELD. Her old tactical suits had been the first things they’d burned after dousing them in bleach.  

The current box that Natasha was going through had a handful of photographs. Ones that showed a younger Maria as a teen playing street hockey with Sharon and her brother and some other friends. Her smile was natural and it comforted Natasha that Maria’s childhood had contained some happy memories as well.  

The next item was a dog collar and Natasha could feel herself tense. Maria looked over at her, sensing the shift in the mood and saw what she was holding. A look of sadness crossed Maria’s face as she gently took the collar and ran her fingers over it.  

"I had a dog once. A rottweiler that I named Hobbes. He protected me and was my best friend. My Uncle didn’t like him, so when he started his dog fighting ring, Hobbes was one of the first ones made to fight. He lasted a long time but eventually there was a stronger and meaner dog and Hobbes hadn’t completely healed from his wounds. Sometimes I’ve wanted to, but I could never get another dog" explained Maria.  

Natasha hugged her and kissed her forehead. If Maria still wanted a dog, there was a guy she knew who took care of military dogs that needed homes. Something told Natasha they’d be a good fit if Maria ever opened up to the idea. If not, Natasha would be Maria’s defender.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU. Natasha hates Coulson. So does Steve. How the heck did he convince them to be on the KISSING BOOTH? Some charity and puppy dog eyes and some threats. It's terrible, Nat wants to brush her teeth for eternity and Steve has on a permanent blush. Finally, her hour is up and the girl taps her on the shoulder, Nat freezes. Damn it she's cute. And all the creepy guys in the line know it too. In about 5 secs she steals an entire roll of tickets. Looks like she's bought the entire hour from this girl

The groans of all the waiting guys is met with Natasha spinning around to give them one of her most lethal glares that promptly huts them up and sends some of them scurrying away.  

She turns to the girl who is staring at her in a semi state of shock, is waiting to see what Natasha will do next. Natasha takes her by the hand and leads her away, leaving the money for the tickets she’s just bought withe Steve, whose jaw is in danger of coming unhinged.  

They wind up at the picnic tables sharing an order of fries and sodas.  

"So I know how I wound up at that booth, a friend of mine went all Dad-like and guilted me into agreeing, but how did you wind up there?" asked Natasha.  

"Your Dad like friend wouldn’t happen to be named Phil, would he? Because he’s my best friend and the reason I’m here too" answered the girl with a shy grin. "I’m Maria".  

"Natasha. Since I just freed you up for an hour, can I challenge you to a few games?"  

"Really? That’s how you’re going to try and impress me? By losing at a bunch of games?" asked Maria, her blue eyes twinkling in a way mesmerized Natasha.  

"Sounding pretty sure of yourself" replies Natasha, leaning back in her seat.  

"Confidence can do that. Shall we?" asked Maria extending her hand to the red head.  

It was an eventful afternoon that left both women happy and scheduling another date.

Coulson however, was left wondering what the hell happened to the girl side of the kissing booth.  


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria temporarily forgets people she knows cause of a blow to the head. Nat starts freaking out that Maria forgot about her. She nvr realized just how devastated she would be without Maria. Steve reassures her. And if it comes down to it, he knows Nat could make Maria fall in love with her again. The 'amnesia' only lasted a day.

Her head hurts and she’s in a hospital bed in some private facility but that doesn’t scare her. She may have forgotten a lot but she still remembers her name is Maria Hill.  

The doctor with the sort of curly black hair and glasses has a very calming demeanor and that may have a lot to do with it. He says she’s lost her memory but it should come back. Also, that even if she didn’t remember them, she was surrounded by people who care about her.  

She spots the red headed woman again. She’d been here when she’d first woken up. Two of the men had to lead her away as she broke down into sobs and looked her way. Maria’s heart broke for her. Something awful must have happened to someone she cares about.  

The red head comes back later and sits with her. Maria can tell she’s trying not to cry as she introduces herself, but her smile is genuine and there is something in the woman’s eyes that Maria feels like she recognizes.  

* * *

Natasha couldn’t bear the confused look on Maria’s face. When she was calm enough to visit her, it was like seeing the Maria she’d first met all over again. She was polite and made conversation, but Natasha could read her well enough to know that she wanted to be alone to rest.  

Maria had become so much of a part of her that she felt empty knowing that her face is just one among many to Maria again. It was Maria that was keeping Natasha grounded after all the chaos of SHIELD’s fall. Everything was a threat and Natasha had learned at a very early age what to do with threats. But that’s not who she was anymore. And it wasn’t due to Phil and Clint’s deprogramming it was due to Maria showing her friendship and kindness without expecting anything in return. Natasha had gotten used to everything being a trade so when Maria hadn’t wanted anything other than maybe a smile when they saw each other and it wasn’t code for sex later, it had thrown Natasha for a loop.  

Since enemies were coming out of every shadowy corner for Maria since they couldn’t find Nick, Natasha has had a harder time of quelling her deadly impulses. She feels them vibrating under her skin and when she heard that Maria had been injured she was so close to losing control and unleashing a blood bath.  

Steve reassured her that even if Maria didn’t remember, she had fallen in love with Natasha just the way she was. He was betting she would again. Natasha wasn’t so sure.  

Maria’s memory returned to her by the next morning, but the one thing she did remember was how Natasha was there for her, even though it had been breaking her heart.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sharon comes over and tells Maria about Aunt Peggy having Alzheimer's. Natasha comforts Maria and Sharon (who she now sees as her little sister).

When Maria opens the door Sharon is nearly in tears, but it looks like it wouldn’t be for the first time today.  

Natasha was finishing up a salad to go with the salmon that she’d just put in to bake and sets it back into the fridge after covering it to go join them over by the couch.  

Sharon had been very protective of Maria when they’d started dating. Proving to herself that she was worthy of Maria Hill was nearly as hard as proving to Sharon. Except that Sharon saw that every time Maria needed her, Natasha was there sometimes even before Maria knew she did. Once she had Sharon’s approval, she welcomed Natasha as part of her family. It was a new experience for her, being part of a family and she cherished it. Which is why she dropped everything because it looked like they needed her now.  

"Aunt Peggy is worse. She thinks I’m Mom. The only person she does recognize is Steve and whenever she sees him, she thinks he’s coming to get her for a mission. Some idiot was talking about the news while tending to her room and now she doesn’t trust anyone. The nurses and doctors check on her and she’s convinced that they’re HYDRA come to do experiments on her. They’re forced to sedate her to calm her down." Sharon did her best to keep calm, but her voice breaks and there are tears flowing down her face just like there are Maria’s.  

Natasha leaves and returns with Maria’s stuffed cuddly creature and another of her favorites, a yellow one that’s just as absurd looking but still as cuddly. She hands them to the women who then clutch them to their chest as they huddle next to each other. Seeing them there together, Natasha can see the young girls they used to be, and suspects this is how it’s always been. Despite having one of the creator’s of SHIELD as a relative, despite having Sharon’s parents that they could go to, they had relied on each other for support.  

"Where’s Kevin?" asks Maria after a moment.  

"With Steve. They went for a walk rather than have Steve worry constantly if Kevin was about to die from alcohol poisoning" murmurs Sharon and it earns a hint of a laugh from them both. Natasha goes over and pulls out the fish, shutting off the timer right before it goes off. She has a feeling no one is hungry right now, and once it cools the fish will keep. She will wait and see if there is anything else her family needs, even if it’s just to have her sitting near by. Peggy Carter always struck her as an amazing woman and she doesn’t know what to make of her losing portions of her mind. In all her skill sets, she doesn’t know how to protect someone from that, and she would protect Peggy Carter if she could. She’ll settle for protecting Sharon and Maria from the waves of sadness that will follow. The best way to do that, she figures, is to help them in anyway she can to rebuild SHIELD.

The true SHIELD of Peggy Carter’s vision.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha knew, theoretically about Maria's last ex-girlfriend, but didn't want to find out more info. about her because they were serious enough to warrant a possible engagement. Now Nat needs to know EVERYTHING about her. That woman talking to her Maria like they were the best of friends is really grating on her nerves. It doesn't help the fact that Maria's nervous ticks are coming out.

Of the things Maria never wanted to have happen in her life, this was one of them. She and Emily had once been almost engaged but then Emily changed her mind, left Maria and went to go “find her true self”.  

Maria had eventually got over coming home to her suddenly half empty apartment that she had shared with someone she had thought would at least have the decency to do this sort of thing face to face.  

Now, more than five years later, she just happened to run into her while she was shopping with Natasha and Sharon. Sharon had done everything but set something on fire to try and break up this little reunion, but Emily just wouldn’t shut up or let go of Maria’s arm.  

Natasha wasn’t one to brag, or use her code name against anyone except Clint when they were doing missions. Emily had recognized her and was impressed and Natasha had given her usual polite but bored smile. Until Maria had introduced her as her girlfriend. Then Emily had looked her up and down and given a flat “Oh”. _Oh?_ It wasn’t that Natasha didn’t know that Maria found her sexy (her mind more than her body and that’s what made her take special notice of Maria to begin with) but the statement that she was dating an Avenger and former KGB master assassin was met with “Oh”?  

Seeing as how they weren’t getting away anytime soon, Maria motioned to a nearby bistro table and chairs. She knew the look in Natasha’s eye meant that she was going over many ways she could kill Emily in her head. While she drummed her fingers nervously on her thigh, she could feel the twitch start under her eye. The worst part was that Emily knew her well enough to know that meant she was feeling overwhelmed but kept talking anyway. She had no idea where Sharon had run off to. Looking at her former lover, she saw nothing of the woman who she had once wanted to marry. Her bag down to her shoes were all designer and flashed in a way so as you wouldn’t miss it. The Emily she knew hadn’t cared about status. Maria thought about how her job as Assistant Director would have driven Emily nuts, to be so important but have no one know. This was someone completely different and someone she had no interest in knowing.  

Natasha must have read that as well as the simmering panic attack in her face, because she took her fidgeting hand and entwined their fingers, helping her calm down. She also seemed to calm a bit and was now looking at Emily with pity rather than a desire to kill her.  

An announcement over the PA system said that there was a car on fire in the parking lot and was reading off the license plate just as Sharon made her way back over to them with drinks. Emily dashed off and Natasha and Maria looked towards the parking exit.  

"Do you think the fire might have something to do with us?" asked Natasha, her senses on full alert at the announcement.  

"Sort of" answered Sharon, not looking at Maria.  

"Sharon…" said Maria in a warning tone she usually used with Hawkeye.  

"I’m never going to forgive her for how she ditched you, even if it did mean I got to be your room mate until you shipped out. And she wouldn’t shut up! So I set her Stepford Wife car on fire" answered Sharon. Natasha knew there was a reason she liked her. She sat back and watched the two argue, completely relaxed and feeling more of a sense of home than ever.  


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "How can you not know how to do this Nat?" "I never learned how, it's not a big deal." "It is a big deal, you're like 100 years old and you never learned how?" "First off I'm not 100, and 2nd it wasn't a priority." "I can't believe I'm dating someone 100 years old and they still can't do this." "And I can't believe this is freaking you out more than me being almost 100."

"Considering how many cars you either wear out or destroy?"  

”That’s kind of my point” says Natasha, sitting on a nearby stool in the garage. ”I never worried about replacing the brakes, I just stole another car.”  

Maria wheeled herself out from underneath her car enough so that she could glare at her girlfriend.  

"Yeah, well, this is  _my_  car and you’re not the only one who gets into high speed chases.  I’d like to skid around the corners not flip over the cement barricades next time I’m in one.  Now get down here so I can show you how to do this so I don’t nearly die next time.”  

Natasha rolled her eyes and got down next to Maria. ”We could do something a whole lot more fun instead” said Natasha as she wiggled her eyebrows at her lover.  

"Since _I_ can’t live forever I’d like to live as long as possible, so this first" answered Maria as she handed Natasha a wrench.  

"You know Fury’s going to make it so you can as soon as he figures out how, right? Whether it’s Bruce figuring out what they did to me or Thor bringing back something or some other 084, the world needs you around to keep it from itself. Not to mention me because I love you and would get terribly lonely and probably wind up turning into someone with a mix of Clint and Tony’s cynicism and sense of humor."

Maria couldn’t suppress the cold shiver that possibility sent up her spine.

She couldn’t suppress the sigh either.

Nick probably _did_ have a plan like that.


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to official SHIELD accounting reports, Agent Hill's entire apartment needed new furniture and drywall replacement due to unknown assailants breaking into her apartment. But rumor has it, Hill & romanoff's sex life is so insane, they break the furniture and the walls at least once a week.

Maria is glaring at the large grand piano sized hole in her wall that now provides with a view of the outside. She’d has a baby grand piano but it’s still in one piece and on the other side of the room.  

Maria is also well aware of all the rumors, and honestly if that’s how the damage had been caused, she wouldn’t be so mad. No, this was because that idiotic, ego and testosterone driven General Talbot had seen to include her in one of his disagreements with Phil. Which naturally mean he needed to make a stand of some sort that involved gunfire at her home!  

She’d been inside with Natasha, Sharon, and Steve when it started. Using a device she’d held onto when she left SHIELD, she unlocked the cockpit of the jet that was doing all the shooting. Steve then launched Sharon off his shield and towards the jet, where she took control and let the pilot keep his parachute when she tossed him from the craft. Natasha was taking care of the troops that had come up the stairs, but she was enjoying herself and Maria let her have at it.  

"But what if we had? What exactly would we need to be doing to create a hole that big? Aren’t you curious?" whispered Natasha suddenly next to her ear. Maria wasn’t going to deny it, she had given it some thought.  

"Something more adventurous than usual, even for us. Maybe suspended against the wall in a special web of yours" Maria let a smile escape at the shiver she felt ripple through Natasha. "Although, even with how aggressive and passionate we can get, I still think some of the structure would have to be not up to code or made out of cheap material for a hole that big" finished Maria.  

"If we choose a still structurally sound area, maybe we should give it a try. To make sure everything is, you know, structurally sound and up to code" suggested Natasha. Maria would have had a hard time saying no to begin with, but the sultry look Natasha was giving her now made it impossible.  

"Maybe we should" agreed Maria as she undid the button of Natasha’s jeans.


End file.
